Hey MLB,

Your chart looks great, slowly and steadily moving downward. Now that you have had an AF day, do you think it would be easier to have more? And I am curious ... I know you have been working toward weekly goals - is it easy for you to quit drinking when you get to your pre-determined limit?

I am exactly the opposite of you ... I have had more AF days, but less control on drinking days. I just finally got to the point (yesterday, after 7 months!) where I had that internal conversation with the little voice, and I won.

BTW - Just saw you're in Ft. Fun. I used to live there, now I am right down the street in Erie.

Take care, -YG

Hi YG,

Yes, it is easy for me to stop when I hit my daily limit. I just go to bed and I time it so it works out that way.

All along, including before TSM, I would drink until I went to bed (always around 10:00). After starting TSM, I worked on pushing back the time I would have my first drink. Initially, that was at 5:10 - 5:15, as soon as I got home from work. I would keep track of the time of each drink and push it back a few minutes a day.

Nowadays, I don't start until after 7:30, and it's usually closer to 8:00. The first drink tends to last about 1:05. After the 2nd drink, I'm ready for bed.

It's easy to delay my first drink until 7:30 - 8:00 (including on the weekend). It's easy to just have two drinks (each about 3.6 ounces of 80 proof bourbon) and then go to bed.

If I were to starting drinking earlier, I doubt I would be able to stop after the two drinks.

At this point, I'm not really trying to push back the time of the first drink any further, or to drink less on days I drink. I'm trying to have more AF days and get them to seem more normal and figure out what to do with that time.

--mike

Hi Mike - Great job you are doing. What an inspiration. Just look at those numbers. I can't wait for an AF day. I haven't had one in 10 years. It will be nice not to wake up with that mild hangover I live with every day.

Keep posting, Cindy.

I made my 2 AF goal for the week. I plan to stay at 2 AF this week and maybe a few more, to try and lock that in as the new normal. I may be able to cut the weekly units down a bit while doing that.

Great progress mlb. You are now consuming 3380 less drinks per year than you were when you started TSM. Even at $3 a drink (since you drink at home) that's over $10,000 a year saved. How's that for a statistic.

Thanks, St V! I don't think I've saved quite that much, but it's still a lot. I drink cheap bourbon, use coupons, shop at the store with the best price, mix with water, etc. I'm putting my 4th (and last) kid through college, so there doesn't seem to be any extra money lying around.

MLB, I love seeing your chart continue to go down. Slow and steady wins the race!

I enjoyed reading about your progress. I'm wondering about your AF days. I notice you said you're aiming for them. Are they hard? Do you crave during those days and have to fight compulsion to not drink, or do they just sort of happen, once you've made your mind up?

So far, the AF days have been easy and I haven't had to fight a craving. However, I have put off my AF day a couple of times - like I was planning on Tuesday, but then I wanted to drink so I did, and had the AF day on Wednesday. A couple of my AF days were on Sunday, which is the last day of my week, so I had no choice if I was going to meet my weekly goal, but they've gone OK.

Thinking about having an AF day is still kinda scary, though, after drinking almost every day for 35 years. But, once I get into it, it has gone OK.

That's awesome information to read Mike. I read all 10 pages of your thread and am floored by the progress you've made. You state that your routine helps you to cut back, but I would think the routine would make it even harder to break the habit in the first place, especially after 35 years.

Dude, if you can do this, I totally can too. Don't quit posting man, I love reading about your successes. I even enjoy reading about your set-backs, because they always seem to be followed my more successes. I still can't believe this whole thing! I'm on my second day of taking the pill and experiencing some really positive results already.